League of Legends’ newest champion Zeri has officially made her debut in pro play after the MAD Lions picked her in their week four matchup against Fnatic.
It was recently announced that Zeri, the Spark of Zaun, would be made available ahead of the fourth week of the 2022 LEC Spring Split. And while her debut was highly anticipated, many fans likely didn’t expect it to go down the way it did in the MAD vs. Fnatic game.
The game between MAD and Fnatic was primed to be the highlight of today’s matches. Fnatic entered today’s game following a rough week where the previously undefeated lineup experienced a 0-2 week. MAD came into today 4-3, looking to edge ahead of Vitality and Misfits, who are tied for fifth with 4-4 records.
In the draft, MAD used their blue side advantage when they prioritized the Zeri pick, setting up the champ to make her debut in the LEC.
But UNF0RGIVEN’s Zeri was unable to make an impact like the team probably envisioned. The Spark of Zaun had only one death to her name and a 0/1/0 scoreline in the first 25 minutes of the game. It wasn’t until the 29-minute mark that the new League champion grabbed her first competitive assist, which MAD found with a pick onto Fnatic jungler Razork.
The early and mid game was a battle between Fnatic pushing their advantages against MAD jungler Elyoya, who had become the team’s win condition after he grabbed four kills by the 17-minute mark. Ultimately, this wasn’t enough to bring MAD back into the game against Fnatic, though, who continued to push their tempo advantage to gain vision and priority in the mid lane.
MAD made one final attempt at a comeback against Fnatic around the 33-minute mark to fight for the Elder Dragon. MAD jungler Elyoya was nearly able to clean up Fnatic’s backline, but their opponents’ gold lead was too large and Fnatic’s Humanoid captured a quadra kill on Viktor.
Fnatic then made one final push toward victory, grabbing one more kill onto UNF0RGIVEN’s Zeri, who ended the game with a 0/2/3 scoreline.
Fnatic’s win against MAD Lions ends a two-game losing streak that developed in week three after falling to the undefeated Rouge. With this victory, Fnatic have more leeway in the standings since they sit comfortably in a tie for second with G2 Esports. MAD’s loss against Fnatic pushes them down to 4-4, tied with Misfits and Vitality for fourth place in the LEC.Â
MAD will now look to end the first half of the 2022 LEC Spring Split at 5-4 when they take on BDS on Saturday, Feb. 5. As for Zeri, she’ll have to wait until her next appearance to try to grab her first kill in the LEC.
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